We use cookies on our website to distinguish you from other website visitors and to provide a better browsing experience. To learn more about how we use cookies, please see our Notice Regarding Cookies.

Please select the cookies you would like to block (Note: Blocking cookies may alter your user experience)

About Our Work

North America

Asia Pacific

Europe

Middle East

Richmond

Located in one of America’s most historic cities, Vinson & Elkins’ Richmond office is home to a team of lawyers who focus on strategic transactions involving real estate investment trusts (REITs) and other specialty finance companies. Collaborating with lawyers from our Corporate, Banking & Finance, Real Estate, Tax and Executive Compensation & Employee Benefits practices, we provide coordinated counsel on all aspects of a REIT’s formation, operation, and investment strategy.

Washington

The lawyers in the Washington, DC, office of Vinson & Elkins provide legal services to domestic and international clients in numerous industries, particularly those with litigation and regulatory matters involving the federal government.

San Francisco

Vinson & Elkins’ San Francisco office focuses on bet-the-company litigation disputes and investigations in the areas of government investigations, antitrust, securities, complex commercial litigation, environmental, complex product liability, class actions, and intellectual property litigation. Our San Francisco office is one of the most dynamic and growing in the Bay Area, and our lawyers represent clients based in Northern California, particularly in the tech space.

New York

Vinson & Elkins' New York office provides high-quality legal services to an array of blue-chip clients, including leading private equity firms, investment banks, and other financial institutions, as well as public and privately held companies in such areas as energy, infrastructure, media and entertainment, and pharmaceuticals. Our lawyers in New York focus on capital markets and securities, private equity, mergers and acquisitions, commercial litigation, securities litigation, intellectual property, finance, tax, and restructurings. The office is also home to key members of our leading Shareholder Activism practice.

Houston

Houston is considered the energy capital of the world and is second only to New York in the number of Fortune 500 company headquarters. Born in the midst of the Texas oil boom a century ago, Vinson & Elkins is the largest law firm in Houston and one of the oldest. While known for its energy practice, V&E's Houston office is home to nearly 300 lawyers who handle some of the most high-profile transactions, investments, projects and disputes across the globe.

Dallas

Vinson & Elkins’ Dallas office has grown to become one of the largest law offices in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, with more than 120 lawyers providing legal services to a broad spectrum of national and international clients. The Dallas office is home to many of the firm’s key practice groups and offers a full range of client services in transactional, litigation, and regulatory matters.

Austin

Since opening in Austin in 1979, Vinson & Elkins' lawyers have remained well connected to the city’s many flourishing and diverse industries. Key practices in Austin include intellectual property and life sciences, venture capital, private equity, mergers and acquisitions, litigation, environmental, appellate, and regulatory.

Beijing

Vinson & Elkins' Beijing office has been open since 1997, and was one of the first international law firms resident in PRC. Using U.S., English, and Australian lawyers, we provide tailored services for Chinese companies investing abroad, as well as international clients on their business in China.

Moscow

Vinson & Elkins has advised clients on their investments and business dealings in the Russia/CIS region since the early 1970s. We established our Moscow office in 1991, and were one of the first international law firms to do so. Using Moscow as a base for our wide Russia CIS practice, we have represented numerous Russian, U.S., European, and Asian companies on a multitude of energy, natural resources, infrastructure, and other projects throughout the region.

London

Vinson & Elkins’ London office opened in 1971, making our office one of the oldest London offices of any U.S. law firm. Our London lawyers handle disputes (including international arbitration and High Court litigation), energy transactions and projects, finance, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, and tax.

Riyadh

Vinson & Elkins has represented clients in Saudi Arabia for more than 20 years; since 2011 we have worked in association with the Law Office of Looaye M. Al-Akkas which is staffed by native, Arabic speaking lawyers, all of whom are internationally qualified. This collaboration allows for effective, insightful service to clients both in and outside Saudi Arabia.

Dubai

The Dubai office opened in 2003 and is located in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). It is the coordinating office for the firm’s work in the region and is predominantly staffed by native, Arabic speaking lawyers, all of whom are internationally qualified, enabling us to provide proficient advice both to regional and international clients.

News

Insights

Vinson & Elkins is a great place to start or grow your career and we invite you to learn more about our firm, our practices, and our people. With our unique culture that extends across all of our offices, we enjoy working in an environment where we value diverse perspectives, have fun, and deliver outstanding client service.

Elbaum has more than a decade of experience as a litigator and business advisor to counsel senior management and boards of public companies with respect to shareholder activism, corporate governance and strategic investor relations. His notable recent representations in this area include the defenses of proxy fights and other shareholder activism campaigns against Simpson Manufacturing, Fred’s Pharmacy, Fiesta Restaurant Group, magicJack, Sito Mobile, Old Point Financial, Asta Funding and Stratus Properties.

Floyd, a member of the firm’s Management Committee and a senior partner in the Mergers & Acquisitions practice, has more than two decades of experience representing clients in proxy contests and corporate control transactions. He recently handled the sale of Omega Protein, an activist defense client of V&E.

Gadson joined V&E in 2017 from Olshan Frome Wolosky and was previously an associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. He has played a leading role in many of V&E’s successful defense assignments. Over the past three years, Gadson has been a lead advisor in over 50 activist situations, including the proxy fight defenses and activist campaigns against Ecology and Environment, Inc., Matrix Service Company and Senomyx, Inc.

Gill has led some of V&E’s most significant corporate control transactions in recent years, including Rice Energy’s sale to EQT, MDA’s acquisition of DigitalGlobe and Memorial Resource’s sale to Range Resources. He is currently serving as lead counsel to SandRidge Energy in its response to Carl Icahn’s position in the company.

“We are extremely proud of what these four attorneys have accomplished on behalf of our clients in the activism and corporate control space,” said V&E Managing Partner Scott Wulfe. “We look forward to the activism practice at V&E continuing to draw upon a deep bench of experience and our nationally recognized capital markets and corporate governance practices. We are among the leading firms in the country in terms of public company representation in capital markets and related governance work, with more than 120 such clients. Being able to provide excellent advice to our clients who are faced with the challenge of an activist campaign continues to be one of our top priorities as a firm.”

V&E’s Shareholder Activism practice, which includes approximately 30 attorneys, leverages the experience of the firm’s top-tier corporate and litigation practices, representing companies facing the growing tide of shareholder activism. V&E ranked No. 1 for issuer representation in both 2016 and 2017.

V&E has also announced two additional leadership appointments in its Corporate Department:

Doug McWilliams has been named Head of Equity Capital Markets. He will work closely with the leaders of V&E’s nationally recognized capital markets practice, with an emphasis on maintaining the firm’s leading position in the energy industry and broadening the reach of its capital markets practice, including in real estate and technology. One of the leading capital markets lawyers in the country, in 2017 McWilliams advised either the Issuer or the Underwriters in eight initial public offerings with a total transactional value in excess of $3 billion. At present, he also has two IPOs in registration and more than 10 in the confidential submission process.

Kaam Sahely has been named Co-Practice Group Leader of the firm’s Energy Transactions/Projects Practice Group, joining Co-Leader John B. Connally. Sahely focuses his practice in the areas of project development and finance, mergers and acquisitions, complex structured transactions and joint ventures. His recent work includes advising Woodside Petroleum in its potential participation as co-sponsor in the $10 billion Port Arthur LNG project and Occidental Chemical Corporation in the $1.5 billion formation of a 50/50 joint venture with Mexichem to build a 1.2-billion-pound per year capacity ethylene cracker at the OxyChem plant in Ingleside, Texas.

Please read before sending e-mail.

Please note that any communication with Vinson & Elkins via e-mail through this website does not constitute or create an attorney-client relationship with V&E. Please do not send any confidential information. A conflicts-of-interest procedure must be completed by V&E prior to establishment of an attorney-client relationship. When you execute an engagement letter from V&E you will be our client, and you may then exchange information freely with a V&E attorney.

By clicking "Accept," you agree that we may review any information you transmit to us. You recognize that our review of your information, even if it is highly confidential and even if it is transmitted in a good faith effort to retain us, does not preclude us from representing another client directly adverse to you, even in a matter where that information could and will be used against you.